Condemning the arrest of SKD president Bhai Daljit Singh under sedition charges, the Dal Khalsa and Khalsa Panchayat resolved to resist anti-farmer and pro-industrialist policies of the Congress government led by Captain Amrinder Singh.

Addressing the press conference at Chandigarh on April 23, leaders of both groups Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib, Jaspal Singh Dhillon, Kanwar Pal Singh and Rajinder Singh said Captain Amrinder Singh has bartered away the existence of three villages out of his personal friendship and financial gains from Trident group proprietor Rajinder Gupta.

Speaking on the Trident issue the leaders said that the peasants of the villages whose land was being acquired by the government have been agitating to protest against their displacement, for the past one year and were being supported by different political parties of all shades.

Holding the CMO and the Trident group proprietor Rajinder Gupta directly responsible for managing the arrest of Daljit Singh Bittu under concocted charges, they said the only so-called act of provocation was that he while addressing a gathering had asked the farmers to resist their eviction from their ancestral homes and lands. By espousing the cause of the farmers of the region, Bhai Daljit Singh has not committed an act of sedition and that the government was totally wrong in implicating him under section 124-A, 153-A IPC. “The contents of the FIR were completely concocted”.

They warned the Congress government to withdraw its notification regarding the acquisition of the land of the three villages. They said the farmers of the state would resist at all level against attempts of any government from looting their land, as according to them, land and water were lifeline of the farmers.

Ridiculing the states so-called pro-active approach against dissenting voices, they said the provisions of the sedition act were being (mis) used like TADA. They said more than 50 political activists have been booked under the ‘sedition’ Act during past one and half year on frivolous charges. The leaders said that they would be shortly filing a petition in this regard before the NHRC and the NMC.

On one hand, the Indian state wants the King to restore democracy in Nepal where as within its own states the spirit of democracy was being stifled. They warned the government that they would not deterred by such acts of intimidation and would stand by the rights of the people of the state.

Taking strong exception to the statement made by Anand Sharma, minister of state for external affairs that there was no proposal under consideration for setting up a visa centre at Amritsar and Lahore, the leaders of both the parties said the newly commenced bus service to Amritsar- Nankana Sahib was set to lose its steam without any visa centre at both the cities. “Although it was a long desire of Sikhs to have free access (“khulle darshan deedare”) to Nankana Sahib yet commencement of bus could not be attributed as a fulfilment of that desire in a true sense as claimed by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during his visit to inaugurate the bus service. In fact, the desire of Sikh people would only be fulfilled once they are allowed to go on pilgrimage without passports and visa restriction. The leaders demanded that citizens of both the sides should be allowed to move freely on permit system as in the case of Kashmiris.